Tank and roof structure therefor



June 24, 1930.

'r. J. SHEA TANK AND ROOF STRUCTURE THEREFOR Filed Sept. 4, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet l TTURNE' June 24, 1930.

T. J. SHEA TANK AND 'ROOF STRUCTURE THEREFOR Filed Sept. 4, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 24, .1930

UNITED STATES PATENT orrlcs THOMAS J. SHEA, OF PORTLAND, OREGON, ASSIGNOR OF SIXTY ONE-HUNDREDTHS TO LOU F. KNOWL'I'ON, OF PORTLAND, OREGON 'ranx AND Roor' s'rnuc'ruan THEREFOR Application filed September 4, 1928. Serial No. 303,748.

This invention 'relates generally to containers for volatile liquids and particularly to .a' tank construction for this'purpose The main object of this invention is to provide a tank for volatile liquids which willpractically eliminate evaporation of the contents.

The-second object is to produce a fireproof tank.

I The third object is to re-claim any gas which may have formed and to return same to the container in liquid form.

The fourth object is to construct an exceedingly strong tank at a relatively low cost, and one which is easy to fabricate and assemble.

T-he fifth object is to so improve the roof structure of the tank that it 'can be made of illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in

which: Figure 1 is a perspectlve vlew with arts broken away to' isclose the-interior o the tank. Figure 2 is; a horizontal section taken along the line 22 in Figure '1. Figure 3 is the section taken along the line 3-3 in Figure 4.. Figure 4 is the section taken along the line in 44 Figure 3. Figure 5 is the fragmentary. section showing an alternate form of joint showing a T bar between the sections. Figure 6 is same as Figure 5, but

showing a straight filler strip. Figure 7 is similar to Figure 6 showing no filler strip being used. Figure 8' is similar to Figure 7 without a filler strip and with one, side bent to form an angle. Figure 9 is similar to Figure. 8 but showing both sides bent. Figure 10 is a fragmentary section showing a portion-of a dome shaped top. Figure 11 is-a side elevation of the form of the top for roof shown in Figure 10. Figure 12 1s athe liquid 21.

plan of Figure 10. Figure 13 illustrates 'a modified form of room section.

Similar numbers of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

Referring in detail'to the drawing, the tank in its preferred form consists of a plurallty of curved sections, each of which consists of a plurality of curved sections,- each of-which consists of a curved inner wall 14 tal dividing plates 18 which are weldedto the inturned edges19 of the members 14 and 15. The lowermost sections are mounted, on a horizontal floor plate 20 which forms the bottom of the tank itself in which is confined It will be understood that the side walls 16 act as vertical divisions between the sections and are of course welded between the sections to'the verticalinturned edges 22. The various sections are placed in super-imposed tiers in order'to form a cylinder or tank of sufiicient height, and the uppermost sections for the outside. walls 23 somewhat higherlthan the insidewalls 24 and vertical dividing partitions 25 are preferably sloped accordingly. .While the walls 16 and 25 are referredto as dividing walls, they are in reality not dividing walls at allbut are rather brace walls or radial web' plates between the inner and outer walls 14 and 15. A condensing pipe 26 is somewhat spiral in form and passes through the various openings 17 and is cooled by the water27 which covers each of the plates 181 The uppermost end of the. pipe 26 is connected to a collector manifold 28 and provided with a plurality of down turned branches 29.

While the condenser pipe 26 is-shown as a continuous pipe approximately in the form of a true spiral it will be found preferable to employ upright risers passing through the various floors and connecting same to sloping curved pipes within the individual courses as this would be much easier to conanoutlet pipe 30 provided with a valve'31 which discharges the liquefied gas 32 into the.

I tank 33 from whence-"it can be returned topreferable for obvious reasons to usean elecmeans o means of a filler strip 56 and the interior of the container by means of a pump 34 -which is operated by an engine 35 which may be supplied with fuel inthe ordin'ary manner or may draw a portion or all of its fuel from the-tank 33 through the pipe 36, which would be theunliquefied portion of the gas. The liquefied gas is returned by'the. pump '34 through'the pipe 37 into the horizontal pipe 38 which serves as an inlet and outlet fuel pipe for the container. In actual practice an internal combustion engine would not be used at all, it being tric motor for operating the pump 34.

Turning now to the roof of the-structure, it would seem to consist of a plurality of inverted U-shaped channels whose curved portions 39 and whose sides 40 are welded together, either with or without a filler strip which will be described later. The various branches 29 of the collector manifold 28 pass through the curved portions 39. The outermost -portion41 of'the portions'39 is welded to the walls 24.. It is desirable to provide a manhole 42 in roof and lowermost sections in order to provide ingress and egress to the tank. These manholes are provided with welded reinforcing rings around manhole openings in both inner and outer walls on lower manhole and around manhole opening in roof.

Manholes are of standard practice for this type of work and are not an intrinsic part of this invention. Upper manhole would probably have breeching or saddle barrel if placed in central. portion of roof. The cover .43 would be outside only, fastened with stud or tap bolt system. I Turning now to Figures 3 to 12 which illustrate a number of modifications of'my roof structure, it will be seen in Figure 3 that the curved sections 44 are provided with inturned lower edges 45 which rest upon a supporting beam 46. In Figure 3 one pair of sections are shown as joined together by a filler strip 47 which is merely welded in position by means of a weld 48. The next pair of sections are joined by a filler stri 49 which is held in position by a rivet 50 and subsequently secured by means of a weld 51. The next pair of sections 44 are joined by means ofa strip 52 which is secured by the bolts 53 and a weld 54. The outermost section 44 has secured thereto the horizontal member 41 which is secured to the side wall .55 by weld 57. In Figure 3 the collector manifold 58 is shown on theunder side of the roof instead of above same and the branch inlets 59 upwardly instead of downwardly. I

In Figure 5 the sections'44 are shown joined by a T bar filler strip 60 whlch 1s project secured by means of the welds 61 or 62. In

Figure 6 a fiat filler strip 63 is employed with the welds 64 and 65. In Figure 7 no filler strip is employed but-only the welds 66 and 67. In Figure 8 no filler strlpis employed, but one leg 68 on section 69 is provided with an inturned flange 70. In Figure9 the same construction is employed but both th legs 68 are provided with inturned flanges 70, the union being completed by means of the welds 71 and 72.

In Figures 10,11 and 12 is shown a still further'modificationof roof structure in which the roof is composed not only of'inverted U-shaped channels as previously described,'but these channels 73 are 'curved longitudinally as well as transversely. I11 this 'form the various sections increase in height as they approach the center of the container forming a dome shaped roof of unusualstrength and ability to resist pressures in either direction. In this form ofthe device the outer leg 74 is approximately vertical, although not necessarily so, and the inner leg 75 is also vertical and has its lower portion 76turn laterally to form an. L- shaped foot for the purpose of increasing the strength of the part. In Figure 10 is 'also shown two manners'of assembling the section 73, one in which the lowermost end of the leg 74 rests upon the lower portion 76, and the other in whichthere is some distance between these elements. It will be understood of course that the need. for providing the additional reinforcements above described will depend largely upon the diameter-of thetank and the thickness'of metal employed therein. With the smaller tanks these reinforcement members may be dispensed with'altogether.

It can be seen that by this construction it is possible to form an absolutely tight fireproof container of unusual strength for a given weight of materials employed and the usual waste of the most valuable portion of the fuel'is eliminateddue to'the fact that such valuable gases as have formed. are

condensed andreturnto the storage comcontainer, it is obvious that same could also be delivered to a separate storage tank, should this be desired, and this of course could be done without departing from the spirit of my invention. It would also be observed that with thisdesign of roof struchim that the roof and shell can be taken down by cutting out the burning strip with a gas torch without damaging the metal and can be put back again when desired, which is often desirable in moving of tanks from one field to another.

The details of tank 23 may also be varied to suit the peculiar requirements of the individual case, but these of course are merely details which enter into the construction of It can be seen in Fig-v my entire apparatus. are 1 by this method the side walls as well as the entire roof can be completely covered with water, therefore the contents of the tank will be thoroughly protected against danger from fire.

In Figure 13 is shown a modified form of roof section in which the various sections 77 and 7 8 are placed alternately in upright and inverted positions as shown thereby increasing the depth of the corrugations and its strength without increasing its weight.

The usual rivets 50 and welds 79 are employed to join the sections.

It will of course be understood that when making the individual sections of roof that a great variety of shapes could be employed, either of curved or straight faces; for example, a single break could be made in a sheet and the sections joined as before, either in alternate fashion as shown in Figure 13, or all in one direction.

It will of course be understood that when the angularly formed sections are employed instead of the curved as shown in the drawing, that the fabrication of the structure is greatly simplified.

While I have illustrated and described a specific type of tank and roof structure therefor it must be understood that this invention is not limited to the specific embodiment described herein, but is intended to cover all forms of modification thereof as fall fairly within the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A tank for storing volatile liquids having a water space around the sides and tops thereof, said water space having dividing partitions whereby same is broken up into a plurality of horizontally connected water containing units and a coil passing through said units for condensing and returning evaporated liquids to the interior of said tank.

2. A container for volatile liquids consisting of a plurality of arcuate hollow sections joined together in cylindrical form in a manner that each of said sections shall form a portion of a circular water container and a plurality of said water containers when superimposed forming a cylindrical water container, a gas collecting pipe in the uppermost portion of said tank passing through all of said water containers in a manner to be cooled by the water therein and pump means for drawing the condensaheld within said jackets at different elevations, a condensing coil passing around said jacket and throu h successive horizontal dividing floors, ra ial web plates dividing each water compartment into. a series of horizontally connected compartments, each of said web plates havin an opening therein through which said condensing coil passes, a roof structure over that container, a manifold for taking gases from the under side of said roof structure and delivering same to said coil, and'means for returning condensation from said coils to said container.

4. The combination of a double wall tank having a plurality of superimposed dividing floors between said double walls dividing same vertically with a condensing coil passing around successive floors, said con densing coil having its upper end forming a collector at the top of the tank, a closure over said tank, and means for drawing gase ous vapors from said tank and forcing same through said coil for the purpose of condensing same. I

' THOMAS J. SHEA. 

